Rain
Here they were. Walking side by side.
He refused for her umbrella to cover them both. After all, she might get wet. And she would even accept the falling droplets – and unlike him would be far more graceful and silent about it. But he persisted, and hence, he refused.
"Why don't you use that thing?"
"What thing?"
"You know, that green flying fish..."
"Minazuki is currently not available. She always gets in a difficult mood in this kind of weather."
"Oh."
Silence. He shuffled his feet a bit, dirtying his sandals and bare feet even more with wet mud.
"Uh..."
Hesitation as he scanned the area yet again. The rain falling in large quantities disrupted his view greatly. He could barely make out the contours of trees and bushes. They surrounded them everywhere. They weren't even walking on a path, he only noticed now.
"Were are we going?"
"Shelter."
But weren't they going in the opposite direction of that? Even his disastrous sense of direction still realized that.
"Should be close.."
"Isn't it more handy to go the other way, you know, to civilization?"
She shook her head once. "Too many variables."
He couldn't resist making an asshole comment. It was who he was. Screw what everyone else thought about it.
"Didn't know you had a thing about getting lost." A pointed stare, as expected. But he meant the words. In his honest opinion, they were hopelessly lost. Perhaps equally as much as he and Yachiru sometimes were.
But abruptly, the trees parted, and a sheltered cottage fell into view. It seemed to blend well with the nature. One needed to be focused on it to find it.
A cottage, long since abandoned. Grass and nature surrounded it, the sparse furniture darkened and too old and wobbly to use now. The ceiling – for a lack of a better word – showed holes and broken wood, but small spaces still proved to be a shelter. Well, possibly.
She moved slightly faster.
Only when securely sheltered did she lower her umbrella. She carefully shifted away from him, drying and shaking the water out of the umbrella before gently propping it against the remnants of he wall. He followed in a more leisure pace. Water cascaded all around him now, nothing left untouched, so he saw no use to follow her hurry footsteps. Besides, he had a perfect view now. Very beautiful too.
He Shook his head. Bells tinkled, splashes of water inflated the sounds. Some hit her. A pointed glance. Again.
He grinned sheepishly – but mentally jumping in victory at winning another round – before taming his mouth.
She looked up. "It will be for a while." Indeed, gray, and water a constant downpour.
She sighed and glanced around, but she didn't seat herself – the ground did look terribly dirty and wet. Many stones showed signs of erosion, or making place for the nature. She decided to stand more secure in the dry spot and half-closed her eyes.
Silence.
He took place beside her, standing, but quickly grew bored. She seemed to be in one of those silent, weird moods. Best not to disturb her and risk another part of her surfacing.
Unlike her, he was used to bits of nature clinging on him. For her it was likely too long ago – he could understand that, to a certain extent.
He plopped down in the mud. Loud splashing sounds penetrated the silence. She quickly turned to him, eyes large in slight surprise. He only shrugged, not really understanding her change of behavior only now. Might as well make himself comfortable during the wait. Speaking of that...
Wet fingers touched the eye patch and poked it a few times. As expected, no relief. His hand shifted the cloth...still no change. He growled and readied himself to pull it off, but a hand stilled his. When did she move in front of him?
"You will do no such thing."
"Just a sec-"
"No."
"But it bothers me..." His middle finger poked it quite firmly. He would rather feel pinches of pain than be in this terrible discomfort. She raised her eyebrows.
"Itch." No difference in her expression, nor stance. "Always when the thing gets wet." Silence, then a sigh.
"Guess that creepy guy's inventions aren't as perfect as he boosts."
A low chuckle. Then she carefully squatted down, raising the ends of her clothes a bit. Even now she took very good and careful care not to stain the whiteness. She rested the ends on her legs as best as she could. If this was someone else, he would find this sight so very funny.
"I can hold it for you."
"Pardon?" He carefully touched it – the black part, but fingers gestured to the white part. She ignored him.
Well, figures...
"Does it still bother you?"
"Hell yeah..."
"Stay still." Fingers took hold of his eye patch. "Woah, wait a sec!" He flinched back, but one hand held him in place. "Hold still." That creepy side of her he wanted to avoid – at least today – arose. It seemed even at that he couldn't succeed. This day really sucked. It would be absolute horrible if not for the company and the situation they were forced into.
He froze. The hand resting on her knees drew that zanpakutou quite efficiently. He silently commented again how badass that sword actually was. The length of it almost towered over her, yet she could control it so very easily.
She pointed the tip towards him. He flinched back again, this time pure reflexes coming into play. Couldn't help it, instincts. She whacked him on the chest. "Still, Zaraki-taichou." He froze.
"Why are you pointing that at me?" No vocal response. She Rested blade, the less dangerous side, on his bared chest, the other pulling off the cloth covering his eye.
"Scratch."
A blank look.
"Or has the urge gone?" Hints of annoyance, now.
He quickly poked the skin directly around his eye. He grunted in relief.
She nodded and swiftly and skillfully attached the eating mouths to his eye. After that, she removed that too large blade and quickly sheathed it and shifted the cord around her shoulder a bit, so the end wouldn't be dirtied.
That was peculiar. He didn't know what she had done, but his reiatsu didn't explode when the eye patch came off. Something to do with that weirdly shaped blade? The material was also dry, now, too. Had she dried it? She could only be so swift with kidou. But he hadn't even noticed or seen anything.
"Uh..." Should he be thanking her? He didn't know what to do. He wasn't very often in this kind of situation. She stood, brushed the clothing straight and frowned at the darkened and dirtied spots near the ends. She glanced at his cloaked eye, then stared atop him, frown intensifying. She sighed.
"This won't do. Remove the bells, please."
"What?"
"Your eye patch will get wet again with your hair and bells. Off with them." No move. Even if he agreed, taking them off was a very delicate operation. And he didn't feel completely comfortable doing something so private here, even if she would be the only witness and was one of the few who wouldn't use any kind of embarrassing information against him.
"I will remove them if you won't." Not a bluff either.
Swift and nimble fingers plucked the first one out. She didn't leave him with any choice, did she?
But still a problem. Terribly wet hair still dribbled down water everywhere. She sighed. Everything that happened here would remain a secret. The Soutaichou wouldn't know about this. She shook off her haori and offered it to him.
"Huh?" She gestured to his hair. "No way." He shook his head and held a hand in front of him.
"Accept it, Zaraki-taichou." He had no choice. Warm, that unique scent of her even on haori. He stared dumbfolded on it. And now, now what?
A sigh, tiredly now and a shake of her head. He handed it back to her – careful not to damage anything or something like that. She stepped close, and her braid came very close in his view. He saw a few hairs out of the pattern, always so neatly bundled.
He felt a bit of pressure on his head and some tugging on his hair. She must be bundling her haori in his hair or something like that. If he had a mirror here, he would likely see pure art and perfection.
He took a step back and surveyed her work, touching the warm, dry cloth gingerly with his fingers. Seemed she was satisfied. She turned her back to him again, walked a bit away and stared outside. She stood just between the shelter and the downpour. A few droplets still hit her, but not so much.
That all? Something else must be wrong. But lucky him for an idea to hit him now. He shrugged the tattered haori off himself and draped it on the stones as best as he could – inside on the top – beside him. Good thing this thing was made of thick fabric. But still, only a few spots relatively dry. Only a shame he couldn't use that kidou thingy and dry the whole thing. She only deserved the best. Well, this was the best he could offer at the moment, hoped it would be accepted.
"Oi." A pause, then a sideways glance. Even from here he registered anger and saw displeasure at his rudeness. But he only patted his haori and ignored her – as she had ignored him so many times before. A pause before the stare returned to outside.
"Thank you for your offer, but I politely decline."
"Rejecting me again?" But she was not amused at his half assed joke, though. He sighed, a lot deeper and louder than her.
"I mean nothing by it. Just felt I needed to do something for you, you know, since you've helped me from my itch and all..." A pause again – he hoped he didn't sound too perverted, he didn't mean anything deeper by it... – but then she slowly turned and even slower walked towards him. She lowered herself carefully on his haori. This time he noticed she didn't do anything. A bit strange, why wouldn't she use another one of those strange spells?
She couldn't be comfortable here, the slight wetness caressing her dried clothes, not to mention dirtying her pristine appearance.
Suddenly, he stiffed an amused snort.
"What is it?" She sounded tired. Others would panic or ask if everything was all right, but his mood only brightened – after all, only in extreme situations would she allow herself to interact with him. Lucky him.
Her stare outside was likely fixated at one spot. "Nah, just imagining how people will react if they see us like this now."
A silence, meant as another joke, but she met it with serious consideration. But she kept the outcome and any deeper thoughts to herself. It disappointed him. A bit.
"It will be best if we kept this strictly between us."
"Yeah, yeah, private business-"
"I am in earnest. This is not a game."
"I am serious." Her head finally turned to him. He merely stared back. "Very well, then." She nodded once.
Pause. "You know...why didn't you use that same kidou shit to me as you did with that eyepatch?" A pause. She was ignoring him again.
Well, the silent treatment again. Even now, he was still not used to it. How many times had this kind of thing already happened? Every time she was in the vicinity, the scar over his eye ached, and other places ached too.
He rested his head on the wall behind him. He waited for the rain to end, but at the same time, didn't want the rain to end. For rain had caused them to be in this kind of situation. This kind of situation that needed to happen much more.
Everything about her ached his scar so very much that he wanted to unsheathe his sword and just charge and attack the petite woman resting beside him and releasing the opposite air of him.
But then again, he was quite content now too. Perhaps later.
When the rain had stopped.
Maybe. Perhaps.
SPOILER ALERT: Nope, am still in denial over her death.